Like
my esteemed colleagues also running for the executive board, I was asked to
consider the challenges and opportunities I see as we take AFS into the future.
Although the challenges facing our society are many, I feel that our road to
the future will be best navigated by capitalizing and concentrating on our
strengths and opportunities.

Increasingly,
AFS is a vibrant organization that works effectively to listen to the
multi-faceted needs of members. The board and staff have initiated important
steps forward in recent years, including a new AFS website that allows greater
connection to resources and communication networks in the field, greater
on-line sharing of scholarly works in the form of such collaborative endeavors
as Open Folklore, and the National Folklore Archive Initiative, a project that
will make folklore archival collections more easily available to all through an
open-access online database.

If
elected to the Executive Board, I would bring my experience as a former AFS
staff member and long-time active member of the Society as well as my
experience in the many spheres in which folklorists work: as a folklorist within
state government, as an independent contractor, as head of a non-profit
folklife center and most recently as a program director within a university
setting. I would work with members, board, and staff to continue to listen to
the needs of the membership and build on our strengths as we work together to
tackle the issues that continue to be most challenging, such as increasing
diversity in our ranks, thoughtfully engaging the next generation of
folklorists, and increasing our discipline’s visibility and viability over
time.